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Just returned from a most
entertaining and educational weekend in New Braunfels, TX. This followed
on a couple of days at my home base in Kerrville (ERV) with Pete Zaccagnino,
inspecting and conducting first flights of my Legacy, N121J. The New
Braunfels event was the EAA's SW Regional Fly-In. Earlier in the week it
looked as the whole thing would be a no-show, what with our weird monsoon season
extending itself. By Friday, however, things were turning very nice after
passage of a dry cold front, and by Saturday morning, every weekend flyer in the
area apparently decided to buzz New Braunfels and have a look.
Lesson 1: With all those
planes and (maybe rusty?) flyers converging on a single runway, even the
temporary tower didn't help much in avoiding near-complete chaos. Out for
an early morning training sesson with Pete, we spent over half an hour trying to
get back on the ground. Three different times we were put on downwind,
then forgotten. Meanwhile, there are 45-knot jennies wandering around the
high-performance approach area, people asking on the radio "What outlet
mall? What water tower?" and so on. Fortunately, we managed to get
back on the ground before Pete's blood pressure red-lined. Mebbe the tower
folks were trainees, and a lot of the arriving pilots needed to be.
Pete, Dave Hickman, and the rest
of the H.P.A.T. gang held an all-day ground school today. Fun and
educational. Recommended.
On the subject of spins and
stalls: None of these experimental birds have been spin tested, so if you
insist, remember that you're going to ". . . boldly go where no man . . . (or
woman) . . .etc." Sure, nine times out of ten they might behave
themselves, stall straight ahead with a nod or a bob, but on that tenth time,
you know, the time you let that ball wander just a teeny bit --
bang! You're on your back and spinning earthward. Pete made a point
today that he doesn't teach stalls, but he does teach stall recovery. A
subtle difference, maybe, but the point was taken.
And oh, yeah, the Legacy is a
rocket. Whoooeee!
Jim Cameron
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